Reasons for testing rubber materials and products fall into four categories: quality control, provision of design data, prediction of service performance and investigation of failure. In each case the requirements may be the same in terms of precision and reproducibility, but may be markedly different in other respects.

Test methods have been standardised for almost all properties likely to be relevant to rubbers, and the appropriate standards are listed in this report. The author also discusses the development and current status of the most important testing areas, including advances in instrumentation and reproducibility assessment.

Additional data on specific materials and test methods are provided in the 415 abstracts selected from the Polymer Library, which complete the report.